Time Diver
by Vanishing Trooper
Summary: Set after the events of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 and before Vandread: The Second Stage. Cobray Gordon is now the new Time Diver and heads to the Vandread universe. Is he there to help Hibiki and the gang? Find out. Rated M for Language and Violence.
1. Acceptance of Responsibility

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, organic life forms, machines, inanimate objects, or anything else written on this fic that can be used against me in a court of law.

Chapter 1: Acceptance of Responsibility

In the space that divides the different dimensions, a lone figure can be seen. A frightening looking machine dawned in deep black color with gold highlights. Its blood red eyes were bisected from view due to two bat wing crests, one above each eye. The rest of the face is covered with a strange gray mask that seems to be fused to the upper torso. The sharp, angular, gold colored wings on its back were extended and emitting a strange green exhaust at the ends of the wings. The spine was covered with six strange looking bumps that, from time to time, slightly twitch as if they were alive. Two large teardrop shaped objects were positioned behind the shoulders of the machine and may be mistaken for small wings. The rest of the body is slender and could only be described as gothic plate armor. A frightening looking machine indeed.

The young man inside the machine sighed as the endless sea of azure light streamed around the view of the cockpit. The young man was around eighteen on nineteen years of age. He had rather messy silver hair; his eyes had a sharp look to them. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit with light green highlights, and had a shoulder and chest plate held together by three green oval gems one at the base of each shoulder and one in the center of his chest. The young man did not look to happy. "I can't believe that I'm actually doing this." Dejection was obvious from the tone of his voice. _What's wrong Cobray? It's a little late for second thoughts now isn't it?_ The voice in the young man's head snapped him back into reality. "Who's there?!" but after a brief pause, he realized who that voice belonged to. "What do you want Ingram? Didn't I make it clear that this is MY body? That I won't be another puppet!!!" no one replied to him. "Hmph! And here I thought that I've already gotten rid of you" the young man slouched in the seat of the cockpit, annoyed at the lack of response to his words. _Remember…_Cobray sat straight up to this. _You may have gotten full control of your body, but I am still part of who you are. _Cobray narrowed his eyes to that statement. _Great…of all the voices I could have heard in my head…it had to be Ingram Pliskin's_ the young man thought to himself. _You already accepted the title of Time Diver so you can't complain about it._

For the next while, Cobray contemplated what the title _Time Diver_ really meant. To him, a Time Diver is nothing but a watch dog of existence forever cursed to travel across countless worlds cleaning other's mess and never being able to belong anywhere. "Hey." No response. "Ingram! I'm talking to you!" _What is it now?_ Sarcasm was clearly evident from the response. "How much longer till we reach the next dimension?" _Well, from what I understand, a journeys between dimensions is only as long as you want it to be._ Cobray was getting annoyed to this and spat out "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" _It simply means that you don't want to reach your destination yet._ The young man made a confused look. _You see, as a Time Diver, you have a free pass to ANY dimension in existence. And the path between them can be as long or as short as you want._ Cobray is confused by this, since there is no end to the path before him, then it means that he does not want it to end…But why? _Want me to dumb it down a bit more for you?_ "I get it!!!" Cobray yelled.

"Ingram" he whispered. _Yes? What is it this time?_ Cobray ignored the smug tone of Ingram's voice. "What does it mean to be a Time Diver?" He could hear Ingram take a deep breath before saying. _A Time Diver is one who maintains the balance between good and evil in the different dimensions, as such, you are given an adequate amount of power to deal with any situation…and I'm not just talking about your machine: The Dis Astranagant._ Cobray asks what kind of powers Ingam meant. _Time and reality manipulation I'd imagine._ Cobray raised a brow "Wait. What do you mean _imagine_?" Ingram quickly explained that he died before he realized his potential as Time Diver. "Last question." Cobray had a question that was eating at his head ever since he started this journey. "Is it worth it? Is it worth traveling to different dimensions you don't even belong to until the day you die?" Because of that question, Ingram understood why they haven't reached their destination yet. Cobray was looking for a reason, a purpose for doing all this. And with that in mind, Ingram stated _I'm sorry. But I do not have an answer to that._ Cobray bowed his head and closed his eyes. _You will have to find that answer for yourself, by fulfilling your duties as Time Diver and drawing your own conclusion from that._ Cobray opened his eyes. _After all…you seem to learn something a lot faster through experience._ Cobray grunted to that last part "Don't talk like you know me!" He could hear Ingram snicker to this. _Of course I know you. You are my clone after all._ Cobray hated that fact even thought it was the truth. Ever since he realized it when he was captured by the Balmar Empire and confronted two other Ingram clones. But he knew that he was different from them, he is NOT Ingram Pliskin, he is Cobray Gordon and that was also fact. At that moment, Cobray noticed a bright light in the distance. "Is that the exit?" Ingram already knew why the exit appeared before them. _So…I guess he has found an acceptable answer._ And so, Cobray Grodon begins his duties as the new Time Diver.

As the bright light faded around him, Cobray realized that he was already at his destination. "So, I'm guessing that this is the place then…But what am I supposed to do here exactly?" His contemplation was unfortunately interrupted as his machine jolted violently catching the young Time Diver by surprise. "The hell?!" It was pretty obvious at that point that he was being attacked. Thankfully, the Dis Astranagant was not damaged due to its passive barrier system. As he turned to see who or what it was that attacked him, he was met with the sight of what he could only call "A giant…blue…bone???" The said object was actually a harvester mothership that was that was targeting a certain ship called "Nirvana" of course Cobray didn't know this, the only thing he was sure of was that he arrived at the wrong place at the wrong time.

_Well, this is different._ Ingram commented. "Yeah, and will soon be dead if it doesn't back off!" Cobray started pushing some buttons on the cockpit of his machine. _What are you doing? _Ingram inquired. After finishing, Cobray replied "Im gonna try to warn 'em first." _My…how admirable. But do you even know their frequency?_ Corbay grinned to this and said "Nope. That's why I'm using an open frequency." Cobray cleared his throat and stated. "To the large ship in front of me. This is the pilot of the black machine in front of you. If you do not cease hostile actions towards me then I will be forced to defend myself and I can assure you that I won't be the one who will lose." Instead of replying, the large ship started to deploy several egg carriers and the carriers themselves started deploying dozens of cube-like machines with arms and legs. Several large spheres with crooked purple spikes could also be seen coming out of the mothership. "I guess that's a no." Within a few minutes, Cobray was confronted with a vast cloud of hostile enemy units. "Time to get to work then." His machine grabbed two long objects from either side of its waist. On the right hand is a long and slender shotgun with deep black color. On the left was a staff with a hollow cavity on both ends. It then connected one end of the staff to the butt of the shotgun. When the connection was complete, the Dis' eyes flashed bright red and Cobray declared "Deploy! Zol Orichalcon Scythe!!!" and with that, a dark silver blade snapped up from the staff portion of the assembly. The Dis was now using the shotgun as the main handle while the blade rested on the other end of the staff part. The blade itself was rather add because it was obviously solid but the way light reflected on it gives the illusion that it was liquid. Cobray then put on a serious face. "Astranagant…let's see how long they last against us." And with that, the Dis Astranagant dove straight into the sea of enemies, wings deployed and scythe in hand.

Meanwhile, another ship managed to intercept Cobray's previou transmission. "Captain…what does this mean?" BC asked. Mango only kept silent about this. "Signal origin pinpointed!" said the now very pregnant Ezra. "And?" BC retorted. "Several small scale and large scale heat signatures detected! It's a Harvester Mothership!" The rest of the bridge bunnies gasped to this news. They just barely managed to survive a battle with a mothership not too long ago and now another one has appeared. BC turned to Magno with a very worried expression on her face. "Let's see if we can help that pilot first." Magno finally said. "Are you sure?" BC was a bit cautious about risking the lives of everyone on the ship for one pilot. "Don't worry." Magno gave a smile. "If worse comes to worse then we just make a run for it. Inform all the crew of our move." BC understood Magno's intention and turned around. "Bart! Course change! Head directly to the origin of that signal." Bart merely grunted in acknowledgement. _This won't end well_ he thought to himself.

"Attention all crew!" BC's voice could be heard throughout the ship. "The captain has an important announcement to make!" All the crew stopped what they were doing to listen to the Captain's message. "Twenty minutes ago, we received this transmission that was sent out on all frequencies." Ezra then replayed the transmission sent out by Cobray.

start of transmission

_To the large ship in front of me. This is the pilot of the black machine in front of you. If you do not cease hostile actions towards me then I will be forced to defend myself and I can assure you that I won't be the one who will lose._

_I guess that's a no._

_Time to get to work then._

_Deploy! Zol Orichalcon Scythe!!!_

_Astranagant…let's see how long they last against us._

end of transmission

The next thing that was heard was Magno's voice. "From the readings that we took from the origin of this message, we have come to the conclusion that the large ship the pilot was talking about is in fact a Harvester Mothership." The entire ship was quickly filled with horrified gasps and worried voices. All except a few people. Two of these people were at the registry playing poker.

"What the hell was that all about?" Hibiki asked as Magno's announcement disturbed his game against Gascogne…not that he was winning anyway. His question was soon answered when Magno told the crew of their intention to possibly rescue the pilot that was being attacked. "That's just crazy!" Hibiki screamed. "Why the hell should we help someone we don't even know? Hell! If that guy really IS up against a Harvester Mothership then he's probably already dead by now!" the woman he was playing against…or should I say…losing to only laughed at him. "And what's so funny?!" Hibiki was obviously ticked off by all this. "Don't you think that the Captain and BC already thought of that?" Hibiki was really getting mad now. "If they knew that already, then why are we still going to go after it?!" Gascogne mearly waved her index finger at him and said "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Weren't you listening to the transmission of the pilot?" Hibiki did one of his 'What the hell are you talking about' faces. Gascogne could only sigh to this. "Listen! Whoever that pilot is, don't you think that he seemed a little too calm when he made that transmission?" Hibiki nodded to this, interested in where this is going. "That guy was confronted with a Harvester Mothership but he remained completely calm about it…it even sounded like he was threatening it." Hibiki raised a brow to this and said "Maybe he's just really arrogant?" Gascogne was astounded at Hibiki's words and sighed. "C'mon Hibiki! Even you were scared shitless when you first saw one of those right? And you're the most arrogant person I know! And besides, you even had a fleet with you at the time." Hibiki remembered how that unstoppable monster killed his new friends one by one around him. "This guy isn't arrogant. He really believes that he can take on a Mothership. On his own no less. And the Captain is interested to know why that is." Hibiki just kept silent after that.

"That is why I would like to ask for all the pilots to board their machines and for all others to go to your respective posts and remain on standby until we reach our destination." Magno ends her speech. Dita was frantically running to the hangar where Meia, Jura, and Barnette were. The three women were talking amongst themselves when suddenly "Leader!!!" All three ladies looked at the now out of breath Dita. "Dita? What's wrong? Did you find a new alien?" Jura joked. Dita pouted to this and said "That was mean Jura!" Jura quickly apologized to Dita, saying that it was just a joke. Dita quickly smile again. "Did you guys hear the announcement? Are we really going to have to fight one of those Harvest Motherships again?" Dita said with a worried tone. "It would appear so, but the Captain said that this will be a rescue mission so once we have secured that pilot and his machine we will probably start our retreat." Meia stated. Barnette quickly replied with "Yeah! But that still means that we have to fight them right?" Jura quickly added to this "And besides…we might not get lucky against them this time." All four of the stayed silent until Meia said "Listen…worrying about something never made it any better. When the fighting starts just stay in formation, watch each other's backs and remember to protect the Nirvana." Dita looked at Meia with a sparkle of hope in her eyes. "Now get to your Dreads and stay on standby. We should be arriving soon." A quick "Roger!" from the three girls and they all started boarding their Dreads. Before Jura got on her Dread, she asked Barnette "We're gonna live through this right?" Barnette saw the fear on Jura's face and said "Don't worry…I'll protect you Jura." And she blew Jura a kiss. Jura gave Barnette a loving smile. Dita was in her cockpit thinking _It's going to be okay…as long as I have Mr. Alien with me…I can do anything._ Meia was quietly sitting in her cockpit "I have a bad feeling about this." Was all she said. Hibiki was already standing in front of his Vanguard. "Well buddy…are you ready?" Hibiki then thought about what they were about to do in this operation. "When I get my hands on that guy that's making us risk our lives like this…I'm gonna kick his ass!"

-end of chapter 1

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	2. First Encounter

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, organic life forms, machines, inanimate objects, or anything else written on this fic that can be used against me in a court of law.

Chapter 2: First Encounter

"Ha! Where do you think you're aiming at?" Cobray taunted a red cube-type before slicing it with the Z.O. Scythe. Cobray was actually doing pretty well at this point. He's already managed to destroy three full waves of enemy attack including a set of Vandread clones. The countless battles he fought alongside the _Alpha Numbers_ have turned him into a very formidable pilot. The biggest damage he sustained so far was part of the left wing got blown off due to the Vandread fakes.

_About fifteen minutes ago_

"These things just keep coming!!!" Cobray was getting annoyed at the endless sea of enemies before him.

_At least they're easy_. Ingram told Cobray. He nodded in agreement to that.

"Yeah…and I don't think that any of them are manned either. Their attack patterns are too similar." Cobray said with a smile.

The Dis Astranagant was actually obliterating all that tried their luck against him. The problem was: As easy as the enemy was to dispatch, there were just far too many of them to destroy quickly.

The gigantic balls with purple spikes started attacking Cobray along with the cube-types and egg carriers.

"Damn! Those spiked balls are getting on my nerves…but I got something for them ad all their friends."

The Dis Astranagant bent over, exposing its spine. "GO! GUN SLAVES!!!"

The six bumps on the Dis' back started to move and wings started to come out of them. Six small objects then flew out of the Dis' back. The objects themselves could be described as _Beam Cannons with bat wings_, the wings were like the Dis' wings but smaller.

The Gun Slaves spread out and started shooting down cube-types. They even worked together to take down a few spiked balls and egg carriers. After that wave, the Gun Slaves went back to their places in the Dis' spine.

"What? Is that it?" Cobray arrogantly stated. It would appear that he had a lot more of Ingram's personality than he first thought.

_Be careful of what you wish for…it may just come back to bite you._ Ingram warned the young Time Diver. And true to those words, three new machines started appearing before him. These were the Vandread clones.

"Hm…these seem a lot different than the previous ones." The Dis' readied its scythe in anticipation of the next attack. Sure enough, the Vandread clones started their assault on Cobray.

The Vandread Dita clone deployed its shoulder cannons and started shooting a few rounds at the Dis Astranagant in which it dodged rather easily. However, unknown to Cobray, the Vandread Meia clone was bearing down on him at full speed.

"Son of a---" was all Cobray could say before the Vandread Meia clone slammed full force into the Dis' barrier. Thankfully the barrier held and Cobray used this opportunity to slice off the Vandread clone's head effectively destroying it. But before the barrier could recover, the Vandread Jura clone started a similar attack run on the Dis. The green machine deployed its barrier and slammed into the Dis' barrier. Normally the Dis' barrier would win out in this situation, but since it's taken quite a beating, the barrier eventually shattered due to the stress. Cobray wasn't letting that stop him though. He quickly moved away from the Vandread Jura clone and re-deployed the Gun Slaves.

The Gun Slaves started their attack run on the Vandread Jura clone but their attacks were stopped by the machine's barrier. After realizing this, Cobray changed tactics, ordering the Gun Slaves to envelop the Vandread Jura clone. The Gun Slaves then shot sustained high-intensity beams at the barrier. The beams burned through the barrier like plasma torches and soon enough, the Vandread Jura clone's barrier shattered. The sustained beams of the Gun Slaves then made short work of the now defenseless machine, clearing out just before it exploded.

While all that was happening, the Vandread Dita clone managed to get a lucky shot and blew apart a portion of the left wing of the Dis' Astranagant. Cobray got pissed at this and flipped the Z.O. Scythe around to use the shotgun part of the assembly. He then proceeded to shoot the Vandread Dita clone. The blue machine managed to evade the shots, only to be surrounded and pulverized by Gun Slave attacks.

_End of flashback_

Cobray was contemplating his situation right now. "The Gun Slaves are spent. It'll take a while for them to recharge and the barrier is still down. Plus, I don't think that I can finish them all off with just the Z.O. Scythe and the shotgun." Cobray narrowed his eyes at the realization that his conventional weapons are not enough to take out all the hostiles.

_I guess it's time to stop playing around then._ Ingram said in a serious tone.

Cobray fully understood what Ingram meant by that and said "Yeah…Guess I should end this then."

The Dis repositioned itself in front of the cloud of enemies. "Deploy! Meth Asher!!"

The large teardrop shaped devices behind the Dis' shoulders flipped over until the sharper ends of the devices were pointing at the enemy. The portion pointing at the enemy started to open up vertically and two rails extended from it, the same thing happened to the other device. The rails started to spark as the devices started to charge up energy. When there was enough energy, Cobray said "Meth Asher!! Maximum shoot!!"

Two orbs shot out from the rails and when they made contact with the enemy turned into vortices, black holes in fact.

All the harvester units except of the mothership were being sucked into the two black holes. Cobray watched as hundreds of enemy units were sucked in and crushed by the the black holes. "I hope the black holes last long enough to take out the small fry. I still need a clear firing line to the mothership for my last attack, and I hope that this attack will end it."

The Nirvana was already getting close to the chaotic battlefield. "Captain! Visual Confirmation of the enemy mothership!" Amarone stated. The large monitor in the bridge was showing the Harvester Mothership facing away from them. The Nirvana apparently came up from behind the Harvester ship and because of that, they still could not see Cobray and the Dis Astranagant. BC quickly ordered the Dreads to scramble along with Hibiki's Vanguard.

The Dreads moved into their squadron formations with Vandread Dita front and center. Meia opened up a comm link to all their units. "Jura, take team two and stay here to protect the Nirvana. Hibiki, you and team one will come with me to break through the enemy. Barnette, take team three and escort Gascogne's supply ship to pick up a possibly heavily damaged machine. Once we secure the machine we will--" Meia was cut off when a bright light suddenly flashed from the front side of the Harvester Mothership.

"What…Is….That?" Barnette, Jura, and Meia said each word respectively. Hibiki and Dita were in shock at what they were witnessing. All Hibiki could do was hold on to Dita's hand tighter.

"Gotcha!" Was all Cobray said as the ray of purple light dissipated from the Dis Astranagant's chest. This was its most powerful attack: Ain Soph Aur. After the ray of light hit the Harvester Mothership, a large round rune formed under the large ship and was surrounded by ten smaller runes. The larger rune completely contained the mothership as a yellow orb shot out from each of the ten smaller runes, the runes disappeared soon after. The orbs themselves were gigantic, each were almost the size of the Nirvana. The yellow orbs proceeded to orbit the mothership, encapsulating it within a dark sphere. The orbs then started slamming into the mothership one by one, hitting in shorter intervals as time went on. The effect the orbs had on the ship was amazing. The orbs each left a clean hole wherever they hit and little by little, the mothership was being erased from existence. All ten orbs converged on the last part of the mothership that was still there and, as they hit, a blinding light flashed from the center. When the light subsided, there was no trace of the mothership left. Except for the debris left by the harvester units Cobray destroyed before, there was no evidence that there was a mothership there in the first place.

Everyone on the Nirvana that saw that attack was frozen in a state of disbelief and awe. The same kind of mothership they fought so hard to destroy before was gone…within forty seconds. BC was the first to regain compsure and ordered Beldevere to find visual confirmation of the _black machine_. Beldevere quickly found the machine amidst the floating debris and showed it on the main monitor. "Is that the machine we're looking for? It looks even scarier than the harvesters." Beldevere stated. Even BC and Magno were caught off guard by the intimidating visage of the Dis Astranagant.

"What is that? It looks like a demon." Hibiki said as Vandread Dita made its way to the black machine. "Im scared Mr. Alien." Dita's voice was trembling, scared at the physical appearance of the Dis. "Don't worry." Hibiki reassured her. "It's not even moving. Maybe it's out of power." Hibiki was mistaken however as the Dis' eyes lit up, grabbed its shotgun and fired a shot at the Vandread. Cobray was letting the Dis' systems recover from the battle by shutting down most of its functions except life support and sensors. Cobray cursed as he was forced to put all the Dis' systems back online to fight the perceived threat. "Damn! One of those special units survived! The shield is still at eighteen percent and the Gun Slaves need more time to recover. Gotta end this quick!" Cobray charged at Vandread Dita mistaking it for the fake that he fought earlier.

Vandread Dita was able to evade the shot form the Dis, but only barely. "Why? Why is it attacking us?!" Dita cried out in panic. Hibiki just cursed and deployed the Vandread's shoulder cannons. But before the cannons could charge, the Dis quickly moved out of the way and shot a few rounds at the Vandread. "Sorry, but I already know how you attack! As long as I stay out of its firing line, I have the advantage!" Cobray said as he tries to maneuver the Dis behing the Vandread for a clean shot in the back.

_Hmmmm…_Ingram was contemplating about something. "The hell was that for?!" Cobray yelled. _It just that…this unit seems somewhat different from the one you fought before._ Cobray quickly grew impatient at Ingram and yelled. "Who cares?! I just want to end this battle already!"

Meia was getting worried for the safety of Hibiki and Dita due to the sudden hostility of the black machine. "All units! Prepare for battle! We're going to back up Hibiki!" But before Meia could commence the attack, BC came up on the Dread's monitor. "Meia! Stand down!" Meia was confused by the order and demanded an explanation. "I know you are worried about them but give us more time. We're trying to cantact the pilot right now so stay put." Ezra has been trying frantically to get a connection to the pilot using every frequency she could think of. Mango became worried since all this stress is surely not good for Ezra's pregnancy. "To the pilot of the black machine!" Ezra yelled out. "This is the ship Nirvana! Please stop your attack! We are not hostiles! Repeat! We are not hostiles!" Ezra kept repeating that message over and over again as she was scared for the safety of Dita and Hibiki.

"Almost there…" Cobray was fully focused of getting behind the Vandread for a clean shot while shooting a few cheap shots at the Vandread's shoulders and legs, hoping that it would slow the machine down. Suddenly… "-not hostiles! Repeat! We are not hostiles! " Cobray was surprised by the transmission as it repeated again. "To the pilot of the black machine! This is the ship Nirvana! Please! Stop your attack! We are not hostiles! Repeat! We are not…" Ezra's voice trailed off as she started sobbing over the communication link, breaking down from all the stress. Cobray immediately stopped his attack just it time, the Dis was in perfect position behind Vandread Dita with its rifle aiming point blank at the Vandread's back ready to pull the trigger. The Dis lowered its Shotgun and contacted the Nivana via the same frequency. "This is Cobray Gordon…Pilot of the Dis Astranagant." Ezra raised her tear soaked face. "Ceasing all hostile actions…sorry about that." Everyone on the bridge breathed a sight of relief to Cobray's words. _Told you it was a different unit._ Ingram taunted Cobray. "Shut up…" was all Cobray replied.

The Dis was escorted to one of the hangar bays of the Nirvana where several armed women waited for the pilot to come out. "Not hostile huh?" Cobray mused in his cockpit. _Well, you did almost shoot down one of their units._ Ingram teased the young Time Diver. The women in the hangar were quite scared of the Dis' appearance, especially when it looked straight at them as it was being secured in the hangar. Some of the armed women were actually starting to back away, thinking of getting away from the Dis. That was until Meia arrived with a few more guards.

Cobray powered down the Dis and came out of the cockpit. He was greeted by a group of cute girls that were all pointing weapons at him. "Get you hands up now!" Meia demanded. Cobray reluctantly complied since he had enough fighting for one day. One of the guards then put handcuffs on Cobray and escorted him out of the hangar. Ingram reminded Cobray not to reveal to anyone that he is a Time Diver, saying that it would only complicate matters even further. Cobray agreed to this and was quickly thinking of an alternate explanation to his "Rescuers." He was put in a holding cell, still handcuffed, with two guards keeping an eye on him.

"I wonder if the Dis is okay?" Cobray was worried about the people on the ship messing around with his machine. _Don't worry._ Ingram said. _From their reaction in the hangar, they're probably too scared to even go close to it._ Cobray remembered the frightened expressions of the women in the hangar, the Cobray realized something. "Wait! There were only women in the hangar." _So you noticed huh?_ Ingram was also wondering the same thing. "and not just in the hangar. On the way to this cellm all I saw were women. Even the guards are women." Cobray was talking about the two women guarding his cell. _A ship full of women huh? My…aren't you lucky._ Cobray chose to ignore Ingram's words since it sounded wrong to him.

After a while, he could hear the door open. A silver haired, tanned woman stood before his cell. "Hello there pilot. My name is BC. What's yours?" Cobray was confused at the good nature of the woman and softly said "Cobray…Cobray Gordon." BC smiled and continued the conversation. "That machine…what did you call it?" Cobray raised a brow and replied "Dis Astranagant." BC was puzzled at the strange name but chose to leave it alone for now. "Anyway, our mechanics are trying to take a look at it to see if they can repair any damage to it." Cobray quickly replied to this. "Don't bother." BC was surprised with the young man's response. "The worse those things did to me was blow part of the wing off. Besides, the Dis has a self repair attribute that lets it regenerate over time. It'll be back to top form within an hour." BC could not believe Cobray's words. First, he's saying that the worse a harvester mothership did to him was damage part of the wing. Then he says that his machine has the ability to heal itself. BC was wondering who exactly this guy is. But before she could say anything, Cobray decided to ask her something. "Tell me…" Cobray said. "Why aren't there ant men on this ship?" BC knew that it was only a matter of time before Cobray noticed that so she said "Well, actually we--" She was cut off when the door opened to reveal a very upset Hibiki. This was the last thing BC needed right now. "Hey you!!!" the short young man yelled. Cobray only remained silent to Hibiki's words. "The hell's you problem trying to shoot us down like that?! We come all the way to help you and you try to kill us!" _So that's the pilot of the unit you almost destroyed._ Ingram was getting amused with this development. Cobray, on the other hand, was less amused and said "First of all, I never asked for help. Second, I took out all those hostiles by myself without any help. And finally, blame your crappy piloting for almost getting killed." Hibiki went ballistic to this and the only think that was keeping things from degrading into a fist fight was the laser grid of the holding cell. Cobray was ignoring all the threats Hibiki threw at him. BC could just sigh and think _Great…that's just what we need…another person that can piss off Hibiki._ Ingram was very amused with this situation and thought. _Well, things just got more interesting. I wonder where this will lead us?_

-End of Chapter 2

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	3. First Impressions

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, organic life forms, machines, inanimate objects, or anything else written on this fic that can be used against me in a court of law.

Chapter 3: First Impressions

"All remaining units! Re-establish you formations! Careless attacks will only get you killed!" Meia was desperately trying to salvage the battle they are currently in. it was looking very bad for them, nearly 60 of the Dreads have already been shot down and the waves of enemy attacks were only getting worse.

"Dammit! Why can't I reach anyone?!" Meia was starting to panic when she saw Vandread Dita in the distance being harassed by a large number of cube type enemies.

"Hibiki! Hibiki! Can you hear me?!" After there was no response, she decided to take matters into her own hands and help her comrade. Meia's Dread started a Hit and Run style of attack on the cube types to give Vandread Dita some time to recompose. As she was trying to gain some distance from the cube types that pursued her, a bright pulsating red light surrounded the view of the cockpit and at the same time her Dread lost power to the engines and stopped responding.

"…No" was the last thing Meia could say before several cube types surrounded her Dread and destroyed it.

"Meiaaaaa!!!" Jura cried out as she saw her flight leader's Dread be reduced to scrap metal.

"This is crazy! We have to get out of here!" Jura started a mad dash to the Nirvana but was cut off by an Egg carrier. Jura's Dread was hit by the carrier's attack and was sent spinning out of control. As Jura's Dread finally stopped she tried to get her senses back when she saw that a giant spiked sphere was heading straight for her at full speed.

"Barnette….Save me…" Jura whispered as the same red light flashed in Jura's cockpit before her Dread was smashed by the Urchin type enemy and was destroyed.

Hibiki couldn't believe what he was seeing. All of his comrades were being killed all around him. "Dammit all! We have to protect the Nirvana! That guy can't take on all these things and cover the Nirvana by himself! C'mon!"

Hibiki was surprised that Dita didn't respond to him. "Hey! Let's go back!" Hibiki nudged the girl who just laid back into him, her face covered in blood.

"I can't believe they managed to shoot down all the Gun Slaves!" Cobray was struggling to keep the enemy at bay.

"I can't protect this ship by myself! Where the hell is everyone?!" Cobray desperately tried to search for any sign of friendly units.

_I think that you are the only one left._ Ingram said in a very serious tone.

"Fine! In that case!" Cobray deployed the Dis Astranagant's Meth Asher. The devices behind the Dis' shoulders moved to their firing positions and started charging energy.

"This is for all the pilots you bastards killed! Meth Asher! Maximum Shoot!!!" But instead of firing, the Dis powered down and wouldn't respond to Cobray.

"What the hell is going on?! Move dammit! Move you piece of shi--" but before Cobray could finish, the same red pulsating light surrounded him.

"Okay…I know this isn't good." The Dis' was the split in half by a green laser beam and was destroyed, the beam also hit the Nirvana which was already being overwhelmed by the enemy and was soon destroyed as well. And the origin of the green laser beam, was the severely damaged Vandread Dita.

"Why? Why did it end up like this?" The shocked Hibiki pleaded. But the only response he got was a red pulsating light around him. He embraced Dita's lifeless body before letting out one last desperate scream as the Vandread was destroyed.

"Whaaaaa!!!" Hibiki woke up, soaked in sweat. "A dream…It was..A dream?" He still couldn't believe that it was all a dream, it felt too real to be a dream.

"Damn!" was all the Vanguard pilot said before getting up and heading for the hangar where his Vanguard was. When he got there, he was surprised to see three other people there.

"You guys…" Meia, Jura, and Dita looked at Hibiki with worried faces.

"What are all of you doing up this late?!" Hibiki yelled, trying to hide the fact that he was scared out of his wits a few minutes ago. The three girls stayed silent for a while. The awkward silence was deafening and was getting on Hibiki's nerves. "Well?! Don't just stand there! Say something!"

Dita opened her mouth trying to talk but the words just wouldn't come out of her lips, the fear was still too much for her.

"A dream…" Meia finally said. Hibiki, Jura, and Dita gave her surprised looks. "I had a dream…or should I say…a nightmare. We were attacked…and we were all killed."

Jura wakly raised her hand and said. "I had the same dream…Then I had the sudden urge to go here."

Dita finally had the courage to speak up and said "Me too…things were all scary…then a red light flashed and then…and then…" fear once again gripped the poor girl as she recalled her nightmare.

"So we all had the sam dream…but why? And what was that red light?" Hibiki was getting irritated by the cryptic dream.

Meia held her chin and replied "Do you think that the Paksis is trying to tell us something?"

"Well…Maybe…" Hibiki agreed that the Paksis could be involved but before further conjectures could be formulated, Jura held her head in pain and said "I'm sorry…My head really hurts…I think I'll go back to bed." Dita helped her walk as the both left the hangar.

"I guess it can't be helped for now…we should head back as well Hibiki." Hibiki nodded as they all went back to their respective rooms though none of them got any sleep as that were all thinking about their nightmare for the rest of the night.

At the same time, in Cobray's holding cell.

"That dream…It was…a warning…wasn't it?" Cobray tried to make sense of what just happened to him. He apparently had the same dream as Hibiki and the girls.

_I guess we can't leave this alone anymore._ Ingram was right, someone or something was trying to tell them something. Cobray let out a heavy sigh and said "I wonder what I got myself into THIS time…?" Cobray asks himself as he tred to get back to sleep although, like Hibiki and the three girls, he would have no such luck as he stayed awake for the rest of the night.

The next day, Cobray was in his holding cell still groggy from being relatively sleepless. After a while, one of the guards of his cell stood before him.

"Get up!" The armed woman said. "The captain wants to talk to you." Cobray grumbled as he wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone due to his lack of sleep and not even been able to eat breakfast.

Cobray was taken to a conference room where three women were waiting for him. He was seated on a chair in front of a large oval table, the three women seated across him. One of the women was the tanned silver-haired woman that spoke to him earlier. On of the other women was one with a rather impressive build, almost like a man in fact. She had dark green hair and was wearing a headband; she also had a large toothpick in her mouth and even gave Cobray a friendly smile though he only ignored it. The woman who was seated between the other two who were previously mentioned was rather old, probably in her sixties or seventies. She had a cane and was wearing and brown cloak with a hood, she had a very calm but serious expression.

The old woman cleared her throat and began to speak. "Goodmorning…um… Cobray…was it?" Cobray quietly nodded. "Yes, well we are sorry for keeping you locked up but I think that you can understand that we can't just trust people who we just picked up in space." Once again Cobray nodded, still keeping his guard up.

"Oh! Where are my manners?" The old lady chuckled lightly. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Magno and I am the captain of this ship: The Nirvana" she then motioned to her right. "I believe that you already met my second in command BC." BC mearly nodded at Cobray and the young man responded in kind. Magno then motioned to her left. "And this is Gascogne. One of my most trusted crew members and the head of the Registry."

Cobray gave Magno a confused look and asked "Registry?" the large woman gave a grin before stating "Finally! I was starting to think that you couldn't talk or something." This earned her a death glare from Cobray. Gascogne raised her hands up motioning to Cobray that she was only joking.

"Easy there tiger!" Gascogne pleaded "I was only trying to break the ice." Cobray really didn't care for it and simply sat back normally.

"Ahem! To answer your question." BC was getting tired of Gascogne's antics and decided to answer Cobray's question. "The Registry is where our Dreads…Our fighters…get their supplies, by that I mean fuel, ammunition or anything else they might need." Cobray was curious as to why they were telling him all this until Ingram pointed out something.

_Heads up kid. If they're going through all the trouble of telling you how they operate then they must want something in return._ Cobray decised to act on Ingram's theory and asked "Why are you telling me all of this? What does this have to do with me?" Magno smiled at the yound Time Diver and said "Well…you see, you have a very…Interesting machine…What was it called again?" Ingram's suspicion has been founded. It would appear that women are after his machine.

"Dis Astranagant…That's what its called." Cobray responded, still very weary of the three women. This was when Gascogne made a very confused, almost strained, face. "That's a very…unusual name…for ANYTHING to have." The large woman said. Cobray looked at Gascogne and responded "That's why I sometimes just call it The Dis or Astranagant. It's easier to say, especially if I'm in a hurry." Gascogne gave him a thumbs up and a large smile to which Cobray gave a weird look and said "I like 'The Dis' better!" Magno smiled as she knew that Gascogne has loosened up Cobray's tension a bit.

Magno once again started talking. "About those things that you fought before we found you…" Cobray immediately looked at Magno with a serious face. "What about them?" The young Time Diver asked. "Do you know what they are? Have you fought the before?" Cobray sighed and said "No and No…They just started attacking me after I arrived in this di—uhh…Region of Space." Cobray mentally slapped himself for almost saying that he just arrived in this dimension. "I see…" Magno gave a disappointed look. "I thought that you have fought against them before seeing as how well you stood up against them." Gascogne snickered to this. "Stood up? Are you kidding me? He completely Annihilated those things by himself by the time we found him. You DID do all that by yourself right?" Cobray simply nodded in response. Facing down insane numbers of enemies was nothing new to Cobray considering that he has faced FAR worse during the time he fought along side Amuro, Arad, Seolla and the rest of the Alpha Numbers. "I've been though worse." Cobray casually said. "Why? Do you people know what those things were?" Cobray noticed BC smile to this and said "As a matter of fact…" BC proceeded to tell Cobray everything they knew about the Harvesters. She told him that the Harvesters were out to collect specific body parts from different worlds as well as the battles against them and finally about the Paksis and the Vandreads.

_You getting all of this?_ Cobray mentally asked Ingram.

_Yes. This is a very interesting situation. What's you plan? Are you gonna stick around?_ Cobray briefly considered the prospect of leaving but quickly realized _I don't have anywhere else to go. Besides, I wanna learn more about there 'Harvesters'._

After BC's explanation Cobray stood up and said. "Let me guess, you people want me to help you to fight those things right?" Magno smiled as did Gascogne. "You catch on pretty quickly kid." Gascogne commended. Magno added "Indeed, your strength will be a great boost to our forces." Cobray raised his eyebrow and asked "Aren't you trusting me a little easily?" Magno gave Cobray a serious look. "Of course not. But it's not like you have anywhere else to go correct? So might as well utilize your skill to help us why you're here." Cobray was cornered and he knew it.

_These guys are good._ Ingram mused.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I'm here or how I got here?" Cobray asked.

Magno kept her poker face and answered "Why? Would you tell us the truth if we asked? You're probably going to make something up anyway so why bother. You can tell us all about you whenever you feel like telling the truth." Cobray was completely dumbstruck. This old lady managed to read his plans like a book. Cobray gave a defeated sigh and said "Fine, I'll do it your way for now." The three women smiled at this knowing that they have a strong new ally. But before anything else could be said a loud grumbling sound was heard. Cobray held his stomach and said "Crap! I completely forgot that I was starving…" Gascogne started laughing to that statement. Magno decided to help Cobray and said "Gascogne, could you please show our new friend to the galley?" Gascogne was still recovering from laughing so hard but managed to say "My pleasure…C'mon ked…lets go." And with that, Cobray and Gascogne left the conference room. With Cobray gone, BC asked Magno "Are you sure about this?" Magno stood up, looked at BC, smiled and said "I don't think that he will betray us. His eyes show that he has been through a lot. He will be a great help to us."

As Gascogne was leading Cobray to the galley, Cobray started observing the ship. _Hmm…It's a pretty decent sized ship. Nowhere as big as the Battle Seven, but definitely bigger that the Archangel and Ra Cailum._

As they were walking they passed a few of the crew members, most of which gave either angry glares or worried looks towards Cobray not that he cared since he was still starving. "Well…Here we are!" Gascogne said as the door to tha galley slid open. As cobray went in he noticed a few crew members were there and he saw someone familiar. A blue haired woman with a white flight suit on the most noticeable feature is the odd device she was wearing on her head, like a headset but looked more ornamental than useful. The said woman stood up from her seat and approached Gascogne and Cobray.

"What is the meaning of this?" The question apparently directed to Gascogne.

"What? This?" Gascogne motioned to Cobray. "He's just hungry so I showed him the way to the galley." The blue haired woman narrowed her eyes and said "I don't understand. Can't he just be fed in his cell?" Gascogne looked up at the ceiling apparently thinking about something. "I guess we could do that…But the thing is. He's not a prisoner anymore."

The blue haired woman closed her eyes and walked off not saying another word. "Bye Meia!" Gascogne waved to her smiling as usual.

Cobray wasn't really paying any attention to their exchange as he was fixated on the food displayed on the counter. Gascogne noticed this and said "Go ahead! Eat anything you want! It's not poisoned if that's what's worrying you!" Corbay shook his head and said "It's not that. I was wondering why you have to show how much calories the have." Cobray pointed to the indicators on front of each plate showing how much calories that particular dish had. "Oh! Well some of the girls here are very sensitive about those kinds of things. Girls have to take care of their figure right?" Cobray really didn't care as he took a tray and started loading it with food. When he got seated, ready to start eating, Gascogne said "Well, I'd better get going. Have a nice meal." And with that she left the galley.

When Cobray was almost done eating she heard the door slide open. A red haired girl with a cheerful face walked…well…skipped in. The girl saw Cobray eating and approached him. "Hi there!" the girl said. Cobray looked at her for a moment but continued eating. The girl simply smiled at him and said "My name is Dita. What's yours?" Cobray drank some water and responded "Cobray." Dita placed a finger up against her chin and said "Co…brie?" CObray gave her a mean stare and yelled "It's Cobray! CO! BRAY!" Dita pouted and started to whimper and left the galley. Cobray gave attire sigh and said to himself "I wish I was back on the Ra Cailum…"


End file.
